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dolorsofmary
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 1:59pm | IP Logged
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he sees!
I try not to over do religion since he hates Mass and the Rosary because it takes too long. I try hard to make the daily Rosary fun and I do little saints curriculum with him (he is a young 5 yr old) (he enjoys it very much btw) and I have read catholic treasure box to him (the entire series) and I have done several of the home catechism for 3-6 yr olds with him and we've done spoon saints and I have done many feast days in the home with food and fun and we do micro plays on saints that I think he can relate to likeSt. George, and st. Martin De Tours becuase they brandished weapons and we'll be doing St. Michael in a few days too. He loves rescue and hero and superheros and I've told him that the only real superpowers that people have are given by God and usually saints have them. The one thing he DOES ask for is everynight he asks for a fun bedtime story about fireflies and their adventures (I totally make it up) and then a saint story and whenever it has to do with superpowers like Padre Pio with his bleeding hands and St. Cupertino floating and St. Nicholas raising dead boys from the dead and he always says that he does not believe it. He says he wants to be a paleontologist and a superhero like a police man or a fireman. Those are the REAL superhero that he claims. I don't know if he is just making it up. Although when I did cover over Pong in catholic treasure box (he is a demon who tries to kill Sonny or is it Wupsy, a boy who will grow up to be a priest) he expressed great interest but also much later worry about himself going to hell for naughtiness. We assured him that right now he is safe because he is so young and there are saints who were naughty and then converted like St. Augustine of Hippo who is my son has his middle name. I said he is a good boy and he just has to work on listening to Mommy and Daddy more and I am sure he will get it down and if not by the age of reason he can always go to confession if he is past the age of reason if he does something that hurts God or others.
and he seems to trust policemen and firefighters as teh real superheros because i told him that his superheros, batman, etc. are not real (except I left santa and the easter bunny,etc. alone and didn't mention them) I said that priests are superheros - they bring Jesus to all of us and clean us up,etc and Mass is the most important thing on earth even though it can be the most boring thing for him. I told him that daddy and I are sometimes bored with the Mass and rosary too but if we think about what we are doing we enjoy it more and then get into it.
So either he is 'pulling my chain' or he just believes what he sees. Although he does believe in santa and easter bunny, etc. So maybe he is a selective believer. Not sure how to reach him. Popcak says that this is the best age to teach the Eucharist because of hte imagination being so strong. So I always breathe on him after receiving the Eucharist and I say 'breathe Jesus' and then I make him kneel down and make a spiritual communion by saying 'Jesus I cannot receive you fully right now because I am too young. I cannot wait to receive you fully.'
But maybe he is just trying to torment me. He does yap a LOT and I think maybe sometimes uses it as a weapon and I can yap a lot too and explain and explain and maybe it is his way to get me frustrated by talking too much but it doesn't lead to that at bedtime. Usually we have some pretty cool frank interesting conversations at bedtime. So well it makes me think that he only believes what he sees unless it involves toys like Santa or the Easter bunny, etc.
Your thoughts? Anyone else have a kid like this? Thank you!
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Aagot
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 4:04pm | IP Logged
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I think part of this is age, personality etc. and a big chunk might be that he knows how to upset you. I have kids who know that my biggest issue is "family" --togetherness, love, respect etc. Well, they know what my button is and they push it. I would just keep planting the seeds and not worry about his reactions.
When he is older (maybe 9 or so) you might try reading St. Patrick's Summer as a read aloud. It started alot of good conversations with my kids about Mass, Heaven, Hell etc.
good luck,
Aagot
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ekbell
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 4:35pm | IP Logged
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Does he know the story of St. Thomas, who also needed to see before believing? 
On a more serious note, I'd point out that even if we never seen a miracles, we have the stories from people who have seen them, just like we can know about how firefighters fight fire and policemen arrest criminals even if we've never seen a firefighter fight fire or a policeman arresting someone in real life.
Every miracle used to advance the cause of a Saint has had lots and lots and lots of people (often doctors) combing over it to see if it's really a miracle.
I'd also point out that a big difference between superheroes in the comic books and TV and the Saints is that the superheroes are made up people and the saints are real people.
We know that the superheroes are made up because we know about the people who made them up and we know that these people were just telling makebelieve stories using the methods that are used to make up stories (mostly imagination and practice).
We know that the saints were real in various ways. For most of the Saints there are records of them and from them (baptismal records, church records, letters and and books that the saint wrote) and there are stories told by people who knew them (St. Martin of Tours story was written by someone who knew him). We even have photos of some of the Saints (such as Padre Pio). The stories of the Saints are biographies (stories about real people) using the methods that are always used to learn about real people (mostly looking up records and finding out what the person and those that knew them wrote, interviewing eye witnesses when possible).
[ BTW there are quite a few Eucharistic miracles in the book Little Catechism on the Eucharist including some splendidly gory ones, most suitable for impressing boys (as for myself and my daughters, we've decided that Jesus was most wise&merciful leaving the appearance of bread and wine). ]
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dolorsofmary
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 7:59pm | IP Logged
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Thank you both for your great responses! I loveyour suggestions. I put both books St.Patrick's summer on my wishlist for later - I was able to read a few pages of it and I was VERY impressed! Wow! What a GREAT idea! I myself have been trying to do something like that but I just don't have the time or smarts to do so. I love it! It looks like it could be for an older child though. I can see if he sits through what amazon offers for free. I read to him a lot.
Also Little catechism on the Eucharist looks realy good too but both books I could not find from my library or interlibrary loan. And I was not able to read any of the Little Catechism via amazon or otherwise. What age group is it for do you think. I do think my son would be into the gory pictures. He is all boy. Thank you!
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Aagot
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 9:18pm | IP Logged
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I forgot to mention another idea.
My kids really like watching the dvds
from CCC. http://www.cccofamerica.com/
Some titles are: Francis Xavier and the Samurai's Lost Treasure. Patrick, Brave Shepherd of the Emerald Isle.
Nicholas, the Boy Who Became Santa.
Maybe seeing stories about these real people will help make it more real.
Also, even though you have read Treasure Box to him already, I would re-visit those stories each year. They leave an impression and he will get more out of them each time.
oh, another idea which I don't have well developed right now but maybe somebody will chime in with a resource. One of the ways we first "see" God is through nature. His hand is evident in His creation. So maybe pointing out the beautiful design, the little miracles of nature, that it is so well planned, will help him to see that the visible points to the invisible.
I love what ekbell said about pointing out the real vs. imaginary.
Aagot
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dolorsofmary
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 9:37pm | IP Logged
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Thank you and we have all the ccc videos and I have them timely marked on my gmail calendar when to see them so they are tied in with the feast day and I'll be rereading catholic treasure box to him next where when I do modg k with him since it is used as a supplement. He has asked for htat from time to time and we have done it if time allows. Thank you so much!
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ekbell
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| Posted: Sept 27 2010 at 4:01pm | IP Logged
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dolorsofmary wrote:
Also Little catechism on the Eucharist looks realy good too but both books I could not find from my library or interlibrary loan. And I was not able to read any of the Little Catechism via amazon or otherwise. What age group is it for do you think. I do think my son would be into the gory pictures. He is all boy. Thank you! |
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The language of the Little Catechism on the Eucharist would be above the average five year old but the pictures and diagrams are well done. I've found it fairly easy to use the pictures as a guide while retelling the information in simpler language.
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: ds 5 yo only believes what
